Tasting Report: Rhone Rangers 2009

I’m on record as saying Rhone Rangers is the best annual wine event going, and once again the event failed to disappoint. Yes, it was smaller than last year — as you’d expect given the economy — with both the number of wineries and attendees obviously down a bit. (Prices, curiously, have not fallen.) Still, there was plenty of wine to go around — far more than one man could experience in the roughly three hours I spent on the floor — and most of it very good.

Most wineries were pouring from the 2006 vintage, but I saw everything from 2003 to 2008 barrel samples being poured. Overall thoughts: It’s a very good year, but quality is going to vary widely based on the producer and, more importantly, the location of the vineyard.

Visited some old friends. Olson Ogden didn’t disappoint: though its 2006 Unti Vineyard wasn’t showing as well today, its just-bottled 2007 Unti was a highlight of the show (and an amazing value). Four Vines didn’t bring its Amador County Syrah this year, but I greatly enjoyed the company’s other single-vineyard syrahs from One Tree Hill and Killer Canyon. And as usual, Peay’s La Bruma was a standout, though I like the Les Titans less this year.

Also made some new wine friends this year, with L’Aventure, Saddleback, and Skylark making strong impressions with ripe, fruit-forward syrahs and Rhone-style blends.

My detailed notes are lacking, but I tried to make up for that with volume, hitting 45 different bottlings this year. Full report follows!